Duke is 13-4 overall and is coming off of a convincing 19-6 win over Johns Hopkins in the NCAA First Round.

The Blue Devils are unseeded and looking to make their 11th NCAA semifinal appearance.

Ohio State is the No. 3 seed with a 14-4 overall record and is aiming for its first appearance at NCAA championship weekend.

The Series History

Duke and Ohio State are meeting for just the 11th time with the Blue Devils holding a 7-3 advantage in the series.

The Blue Devils and Buckeyes have split NCAA Tournament games with Ohio State winning 16-11 in 2015 and Duke besting the Buckeyes 21-10 in the 2008 NCAA quarterfinal.

Tale of the Tape

Category

Duke

OSU

Shots/Game

37.2

34.4

Goals/Game

13.18

11.39

Assists/Game

7.88

5.83

Points/Game

21.1

17.22

Shot%

.354

.331

GAA

7.94

8.09

GBs/Game

30.7

29.22

EMO

23-45 (.511)

26-55 (.473)

Man Down

32-46 (.696)

39-56 (.696)

Clears

268-305 (.872)

280-316 (.886)

Faceoff %

235-420 (.560)

261-412 (.633)

By the Numbers94 – Points this season for Justin Guterding, tied for fifth in Duke single-season history and six away from being the second player at Duke to record 100 in a campaign5.47 – Points per game for Justin Guterding in 2017, ahead of Jordan Wolf's program-best 5.15 per game in 201455 – Straight games with a point for senior Jack Bruckner, the second longest streak among Division I players8.11 – Ohio State's scoring defense in 2017, ranked sixth nationally13.18 – Duke's scoring offense in 2017, seventh nationally.345 – Duke's shot percentage, the sixth best in the nation.260 – Duke's opponents' shot percentage this season, scoring just 135 goals on 519 shots.596/7.38 – Faceoff percentage and GBs per game totals for Kyle Rowe, 13th and eighth, respectivley, in the national rankings.666/7.28 – Ohio State's Jake Withers' faceoff percentage and GBs per game totals, third and ninth, respectivley, in the national rankings

NCAA Tournament Notes

Duke is making its 21st appearance in the NCAA tournament and 11th straight overall.

The Blue Devils are 33-17 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The 33 wins are fifth among Division I teams. Duke is 10-4 in NCAA quarterfinal games.

Duke is unseeded for just the fourth time in program history. The Blue Devils are 1-3 as an unseeded team and would be the 11th unseeded squad to advance to championship weekend since the field was expanded to 16 in 2003.

Duke is 3-0 in overtime NCAA Tournament games and 2-0 under John Danowski.

Duke has won 27 of its past 35 NCAA playoff games. Three of the losses came against Johns Hopkins in the 2005 and 2007 title games and the 2008 semifinals.

Overall, the Blue Devils are 28-8 in NCAA action when scoring at least 10 goals and 1-9 when held to single digits.

Saturday marks the fourth time in Duke history the Blue Devils have played in an NCAA quarterfinal game inside Shuart Stadium at Hofstra.

Duke is 0-3 in those contests with the most recent being a 10-9 setback to Syracuse in 2002.

This marks the first time under head coach John Danowski the Blue Devils have played at Danowski's former school in an NCAA quarterfinal.

Long Island Home Coming

For the second time in a three-week span, a host of Blue Devils, including head coach John Danowski, will return home to Long Island.

Danowski and assistant coach Ron Caputo will return to familiar territory in Hofstra, where. Danowski was head coach for 21 seasons. Caputo was an assistant coach with Danowski from 2003-06.

Danowski's daughter, Kate, still resides in Bethpage and teaches at Bethpage. Among the players returning to their roots are Jack Bruckner, Sean Cerrone, Brian Dunne, Jack and Danny Fowler, Justin Guterding, and Tommy Zenker. Five of those hail from Chaminade High School, while Guterding attended Garden City and Bruckner Ward Melville.

Battle at the X

Saturday's game will pit two of the nation's top faceoff men as Ohio State's Jake Withers and Duke's Kyle Rowe square off.

Withers, sporting a 67 percent success rate at the X, is third nationally, while Rowe is 13th at 60 percent.

Both are adept at picking up ground balls, ranking in the top 10. Rowe is eighth at 8.33 ground balls per game and Withers is ninth with 7.28.

Ohio State's Withers has won at least 50 percent of his draws in 16 of the 18 games and Rowe has won over half in 12 of his 16 outings.

Duke is 2-2 in the four games where Rowe didn't win half of his faceoffs and Ohio State is 2-0.

Blue Devils in NCAA Tournament

Only nine current Blue Devils have played in three or more NCAA Tournament games since 2014 with only 14 having played in multiple games.

Jack Bruckner is the top scorer with 17 points, thanks to his six against Loyola in 2016. Kyle Rowe sports a .697 win percentage at the faceoff X, while Danny Fowler looks to continue to improve on his 13.01 goals against average.

Ohio State's David Planning scored six goals to lead visiting Ohio State to a 16-11 win over fifth-seeded Duke in the opening round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

After trailing 2-1 after one period, Ohio State outscored the Blue Devils by a 6-1 margin in the second quarter to claim a 7-3 lead at intermission. Planning added a score just 48 seconds into the third quarter to push the lead to 8-3.

Planning added one assist to the scoresheet while Carter Brown and Colin Chell chipped in four and three goals, respectively. Tom Carey made 15 stops, including six in the fourth quarter.

Scouting Ohio State

Third seed Ohio State advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals with a 7-4 win over Loyola in the opening round. The Buckeyes are 14-4 overall and finished as the runner-up to Maryland in the Big Ten.

Rookie Tre Leclaire headlines and offense that is averaging 11.39 goals per game with 58 points from 44 goals and 14 assists. Eric Fannell is right on his heels at 56 points. Leclaire also has six man-up goals for the nation's eighth-ranked man-up offense.

Overall, Ohio State has scored at least 10 goals in 12 of its 18 games. The Buckeyes are 3-3 when not reaching double digits.

Defensively, the Buckeyes are solid in allowing just 8.11 goals per game this season. They have held 12 of their 18 opponents to single digit scoring and are 3-3 when allowing 10-plus goals. Erik Evans leads the defensive charge with 16 caused turnovers and 24 ground balls, while Ben Randall has 12 and 44, respectively. In goal, Tom Carey owns a 7.98 goals agianst average and a .546 save percentage. He is averaging 7.4 saves per game.

Faceoff specialist Jake Withers is one of the best in the country, ranking third nationally with a .666 win percentage at the X. He has won 235-of-353 draws and picked up 131 ground balls.

Make Duke 11-4 in NCAA quarterfinal games and 2-1 all-time against Ohio State in NCAA postseason play

Duke Defense One of best Under Danowski

Duke's 2017 defensive performance through 16 games has proven to be one of the Blue Devils' finest since head coach John Danowski took the reins in 2007.

Duke's current 7.94 goals against average is the best for a Danowski-coached Duke squad since the 2009 team sported a 7.85 GAA.

The Blue Devils' talented 2007, 2008 and 2009 teams all had goals against averages under eight. In Duke's three national championship seasons (2010, 2013, 2014), the Blue Devils allowed 8.98, 10.14 and 9.64 goals per game, respectively.

Comparing Duke's Offensive Numbers

Duke's offense is once again one of the most productive in the nation, ranking in the top 10 in goals and points per game. The Blue Devils currently rank eighth in points per game (21.06) and seventh nationally in scoring offense (13.18).

Duke's starting offense is comparable to some of the best groups the Blue Devils have had under head coach John Danowski. In a comparison of Duke's 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2017 attack and first midfield units through 17 games, this year's group has very similar numbers as those other three seasons. Guterding's points total is the highest of any Duke attackman in any of those seasons.

Category

2008

2010

2014

2017

Shots/Game

46.5

39.4

41.8

37.2

Goals/Game

15.41

13.65

14.82

13.18

Assists/Game

8.71

8.71

8.88

7.88

Points/Game

24.1

22.35

23.71

21.1

Shot%

.331

.346

.354

.354

EMO

32-67 (.478)

31-60 (.517)

23-58 (.397)

23-45 (.511)

Pos

2008 Points

2010 Points

2014 Points

2017 Points

A

84

76

84

93

A

78

74

52

61

A

59

59

36

36

M

30

29

60

37

M

28

19

50

20

M

17

13

39

19

Total

296

270

321

266

Shot%

.349

.380

.407

.375

70, 71, 72 And Counting for Guterding

With four points at Marquette junior Justin Guterding became the first Blue Devil to record at least 70 points in each of his first three seasons, going for 70, 71 and 72 in his respective seasons. He also is the fastest Blue Devil to 100 career points and is tied for the fastest player to 200 points.

Guterding pushed his season points total to 94 last weekend to become the fourth different Blue Devil in program history to score 90 points in a season. He currently sits in fifth in single-season points.

Only Jordan Wolf has scored 100 points in a season for Duke and just 14 different Division I players have reached the century mark in NCAA history.

He is one of four Blue Devils to rank in the top 10 in school history in career points (234), goals (144) and assists (90). The others are Matt Danowski, Jordan Wolf, and Dave Hagler.

Bruckner And Guterding Dynamic Duo

The Batman and Robin tandem of Bruckner and Guterding has been unstoppable this season. In all 17 of Duke's games this season the leading scorer has been either Guterding or Bruckner. Guterding has led the way himself 10 times, tied with Bruckner three times and Joey Manown once. Bruckner was tops in points against Syracuse, Denver and Notre Dame in the regular season.

Overall, the duo is the highest scoring attacking tandem in the country with Duke being the lone school to have two players in the top 10 among active players in career goals and one of two schools to have two players ranked in the top 20 in goals per game.

Of Bruckner's 44 goals in 2017, 19 of them (43 percent) have been assisted by Guterding. Bruckner has provided eight assists to Guterding's 23 (35 percent) assisted scores, while the junior has thrown in 26 unassisted goals.

With 18 faceoff wins at Johns Hopkins last weekend Kyle Rowe joined an elite club of players with at least 800 career wins at the X.

He is one of seven players in NCAA history to record 800-plus wins at the faceoff X, while his 807 victories are seventh in NCAA history. He is 10 shy of passing former Blue Devil great Brendan Fowler's 816.

In addition, Rowe is one of 21 other players in NCAA Division I history to win at least 100 draws in all four seasons.

Rowe ground balls in NCAA Records Book

Senior faceoff specialist Kyle Rowe is the active leader and ranked fourth in NCAA history in career ground balls with 494. He is six shy of reaching 500, a total only three players in history have reached.

His 7.84 ground balls per game average is 13th on the NCAA list, while his 7.10 per game average at Duke is the best in school history, besting Brendan Fowler's 6.41 per game average.

Up Next

The winner of Saturday's game advances to the NCAA semifinals to play the winner between Syracuse and Towson. Championship weekend is in Foxboro, Mass. at Gillette Stadium, May 27-29. Semifinals are at 12 and 2:30, May 27. Championship game is May 29 at 1 p.m.